Piacentini Nets Two in 4-0 Win

Friday, November 23

Syracuse, NY

7:00 p.m.

Syracuse University

7-5-1, 3-0-1CHA

RPI

2-9-2, 0-4-0ECAC

RPI

Syracuse

Kallie BIlladeau recorded her sixth career shutout, an SU record, against RPI.

Photo by: Michael J. Okoniewski

11/23/2012 10:23:00 PM | Ice Hockey

Box Score

Box Score | Photo Gallery

Behind two goals from freshman forward Melissa Piacentini, the Syracuse women's ice hockey team recorded its fifth shutout of the season with a 4-0 win against RPI (2-9-2, 0-4-0 ECAC) at home. With her short-handed tally in the third period, senior forward Holly Carrie-Mattimoe became SU's all-time leading goal scorer with 35 career-goals.

Junior goaltender Kallie Billadeau recorded her fourth shutout of the season and sixth of her career, both of which are SU program records. Billadeau notched 14 saves in the Orange (7-5-1, 3-0-1 CHA) victory.

"It was a good effort tonight on both sides of the puck," head coach Paul Flanagan said. "It's nice to recognize what the defense did in protecting Billadeau. She made a couple of big saves when she needed to. I thought the team played very well in front of her and limited RPI to not very many scoring opportunities."

SU led the offensive attack during the first period outshooting RPI, 14-1. Sophomore forward Shiann Darkangelo found Cara Johnson up the ice in the beginning of the period. Johnson went one-on-one with goaltender, Kelly O'Brien, but O'Brien came up with a big save, preserving the 0-0 tie.

At 9:22 in the first period, SU would be awarded its first power play on the night after Alexa Gruschow was called for cross checking. During the power play opportunity, Nicole Ferrara found Carrie-Mattimoe in the left corner. Carrie-Mattimoe sent the puck across net to where Margot Scharfe was waiting. Scharfe's shot went sailing over O'Brien's left shoulder, and SU took a 1-0 lead, 11:01 in the first period.

Less than halfway through the second period, Shiann Darkangelo dished the puck over from the right side to freshman defenseman Nicole Renault, who fired a shot from the blue line. Piacentini tipped the puck in, giving the Orange a 2-0 advantage at 8:59 in the second frame

Piacentini scored again to extend the score to, 3-0, at 7:01 in the third period. Cara Johnson passed the puck to Piacentini who was able to knock her second tally of the night.

Brittney Krebs was called for elbowing at 11:32 in the power play, giving the Engineer's its third power play of the night. RPI then pulled O'Brien to try and break the shutout. Carrie-Mattimoe intercepted an RPI pass and scored her record-breaking goal on an empty-net.

O'Brien notched 32 saves in the game for the Engineers. SU outshot RPI, 36-14 and went 1-for-2 on the power play. The Orange held its opponent to 0-for-3 on the power play.

The two teams meet again tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 24th, at 4 p.m. at Tennity Ice Pavilion.

Orange Slices: The Orange extends its program record for shutouts in a season with five… Kallie Billadeau also became the SU leader in shutouts per season (4) and career shutouts (6)… With her short-handed tally in the third period, senior forward Holly Carrie-Mattimoe became SU's all-time leading goal scorer with 35 career-goals… Carrie-Mattimoe notched her third short-handed goal of her career and first this season… Both Carrie-Mattimoe (1g, 1a) and Melissa Piacentini (2g) had multi-point games…. SU outshot RPI, 36-14, including a 14-1 advantage in the first period… The Orange went 1-for-2 on the power play while holding its opponent to 0-for-3